State NAACP drafts letter to governor

Molly McGowan / Times-News

Friday

Oct 25, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 25, 2013 at 5:05 PM

The North Carolina branch of the NAACP has drafted a letter for Gov. Pat McCrory asking for a special session of the Legislature to accept Medicaid expansion money and federal unemployment insurance funds, the organization announced in Burlington on Friday.

Laurel Ashton, field secretary for the state NAACP, spoke outside Burlington’s Municipal Building in the absence of the group’s president, the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber.

The press conference’s purpose was threefold – to spark enthusiasm for Monday’s rally at the Historic Depot in downtown Burlington, gather signatures on an open letter to McCrory, and to kick off a local coalition that will monitor and respond to individual laws as they take effect, said Noah Read, political action chair with Alamance County branch of the NAACP.

Before Ashton spoke on Barber’s behalf, Read listed local statistics he said were due in part to the state’s failure to accept Medicaid expansion money and the rejection of federal unemployment insurance funds.

Read said in Alamance County, there are 9,300 children living in poverty, 24,000 adults without healthcare and 12,600 unemployed. He called on the Alamance County branch of the NAACP and its local partners to show their support Monday and said, “Our group of local advocates are people of conscience.”

Ernestine Lewis, president of the Alamance County branch of the NAACP, said the show of local support Monday is to inform those struggling in Alamance County about resources in their own community.

“It’s good to have outsiders come in,” Lewis said, referencing those Moral Monday protestors from other cities. “But we need to make a difference in Alamance County.”

Ashton said the state NAACP is equally excited about the local support in Alamance County, and said the county’s first Moral Monday event will also be the “kick off of a coalition.”

Read explained the coalition will be reacting to individual laws, including voter suppression, as their effects are realized locally.

A Moral Monday will be held in Raleigh on Dec. 23, which Read said will either be a “Service of Redemption,” or will “bear witness to the continued misguided course of the legislature,” depending on McCrory’s action. The open letter will be distributed during Monday’s event to gather additional signatures, Ashton said.

The rally on Monday will begin at 5 p.m. at the Historic Depot, with amphitheater seating opening at 4:30 p.m. In case of rain, the rally will move to the Paramount Theater.

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